Batya has continued to experiment with new water-purification systems. So far, she’s had the best luck with gravity filters, and with rainwater reclamation. Even the rainwater isn’t safe without processing: We have found eggs there, tiny and captured by the natural interplay of wind and water. They are uncommon. They are common enough that by now, we must assume that all open and standing water sources have become contaminated.
The eggs do not fare well in salt water. Increasing the salinity of freshwater is effective, but not absolutely so. Desalinization may be our next best hope. It will require us to gain access to the coastline. USAMRIID is still functional, and mobs of both sleepwalkers and human survivors remain an issue. We’re going to have to figure out a way to deal with them soon. If we don’t, we’re going to reach a point where water rationing becomes necessary. I can’t afford the hit that would represent to our morale.
USAMRIID has to go.
—FROM THE NOTES OF SHERMAN LEWIS (SUBJECT VIII, ITERATION III), JANUARY 2028
I don’t know how I can make this any clearer than I already have: We need help. We are no longer able to afford the luxury of pretending that the situation here on the West Coast is under control. I’ve heard nothing from Los Angeles for the last ten days. Our team in Salt Lake transmitted a report of contamination in the water supply before they ceased communication.
Attached, please find analysis of the local reservoirs, showing the contamination levels. While the SymboGen implants are unable to mature in other mammals, they are capable of using those other mammals as intermediate hosts, spreading from waterway to waterway in the bellies of deer, raccoons, and feral cats. They will continue to spread until they have contaminated all water sources in North America.
We need to stop this, and we need to stop it now, before it gets too far out of hand.
—MESSAGE FROM COLONEL ALFRED MITCHELL, USAMRIID, TRANSMITTED TO THE WHITE HOUSE ON JANUARY 6, 2028